Rich salmon is a warm, pinkish‑orange colour whose name recalls the flesh of the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). In the Hermetic Qabalah it appears as the sixth step of the Emperor Scale of Colour, corresponding to the sephirah Tiphereth on the Tree of Life. The Emperor Scale (also called the Scale of the King or the Scale of Atziluth) is one of four colour scales used in the system of Liber 777; it is associated with the suit of Wands and the element of Fire. Rich salmon here replaces the more familiar golden yellow often assigned to Tiphereth, offering a subtler, flesh‑toned variant that still carries the solar warmth of the central sephirah.

Position on the Tree of Life

Rich salmon is the colour of Tiphereth (Beauty) on the Emperor Scale. Tiphereth is the sixth sephirah, the heart of the Tree, balancing the severity of Geburah and the mercy of Chesed. In the colour scales, each sephirah receives a different hue depending on the scale; the Emperor Scale’s Tiphereth is rich salmon, whereas the Queen Scale (Briah) gives it a clear pink rose, the Prince Scale (Yetzirah) a rich yellow, and the Princess Scale (Assiah) a rich gold. The salmon shade thus occupies a middle ground between the reds of Geburah and the yellows of the lower sephiroth, echoing Tiphereth’s role as harmoniser.

Astrological and planetary correspondence

Tiphereth is governed by the Sun, and its usual colours are gold, yellow, and solar orange. Rich salmon, with its admixture of pink and orange, retains a solar quality while introducing a softer, more organic tone. The pinkish cast hints at the influence of Venus (which rules Netzach, the sephirah directly below Tiphereth) and at the blood‑and‑flesh aspect of the Sun’s life‑giving power. In astrological magic, this colour might be used to invoke the balanced, benevolent rays of the Sun tempered by the love of Venus.

Historical context

The Emperor Scale of Colour first appears in Aleister Crowley’s Liber 777 (1909), a compilation of Qabalistic correspondences drawn from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The scale itself is attributed to the Atziluthic world (the world of emanation) and to the suit of Wands. The choice of “rich salmon” for Tiphereth is unusual; most earlier Qabalistic colour schemes (e.g., those of Athanasius Kircher or the Zohar’s commentators) assigned plain gold or yellow to the central sephirah. Crowley likely derived the salmon from the Golden Dawn’s “Flash” colour scales, where Tiphereth in the King Scale is described as “rich salmon” in the original cipher manuscripts. The term “salmon” as a colour name entered English in the late 18th century, but its use in occult colour theory is specific to the Golden Dawn’s system. The colour appears again in Crowley’s The Book of Thoth (1944) for the Atu of the Sun (Key XIX), where the salmon tones of the central disk echo the Emperor Scale’s Tiphereth.

In the table of Liber 777, rich salmon is listed as the colour for Tiphereth in column v (the Emperor Scale). It stands between the bright scarlet of Geburah (step 5) and the bright yellow green of Netzach (step 7), forming a triad of fiery, solar, and vegetative hues. The salmon is described as “rich” to emphasise its saturation and depth, distinguishing it from a pale or washed‑out salmon. This specific shade is not used elsewhere in the 777 colour tables; it belongs uniquely to Tiphereth on the Emperor Scale.